The Road to ABC’s American Inventor show….

Some things are just meant. It was on a Friday, after I had dropped my Son off to school that I heard Simon Cowell announce that he was looking for inventors for his new show. I pulled over and wrote the information on the first piece of paper that I could find; and on Monday, was in line with hundreds of inventors vying for a chance to make my dream come true. The line was so long, the producers asked us to come back the next day. No worries. I had waited 22 years, one more day wouldn’t matter.

After a nationwide search of 10,000 contestants, I made it to the final 12. Fifty-thousand dollars felt like a million. I now had the resources to take the Niya doll to the next level. Focus groups, coaches, design teams, stylists, technical engineers and industry experts were assigned to each inventor. My dream team was second-to-none. At the big reveal, I was surprised beyond words when my vision was expanded from 1 Niya doll to 6 multicultural friends.